Memoirs and morsels from home and abroad

inspiration from afar (and near)

I’ve been back from vacation in Panama for several days and have just resigned myself to admitting that I will be backdating my blog posts for a while because I like having a chronological record of what I’ve been up to, but I can’t resist posting the new things that I’ve been cooking or experiencing. So, it’s cheating a little bit, but I’m admitting it outright…and I’m being fully transparent.

I have been thinking about the Moroccan Carrot Ravioli with Lemon Zest and Harissa that Sarah made a few weeks ago, and last night was the night to finally make this dish. The main food I had in my kitchen was a bunch of CSA greenery (parsley, cukes, scallions) that would lend themselves nicely to a big Israeli-style salad when added to a few tomatoes and olives, garlic scapes (ooh, I can’t wait to make Dorie Greenspan’s scape pesto), and a pound of carrots (but no onions which I would have needed if I wanted to make a soup).

I also dug around and found some schug in the fridge (which I often substitute for harissa in a pinch because the commercially available schug in the US is very similar and made with red chili peppers though the authentic Yemenite version is made from hot green peppers and cilantro) and a package of wonton wrappers in the freezer. Given that my pasta maker is at my parents’ house and is too heavy to reasonably ship (yes, when I was in 6th grade and we had to prepare a meal for our families and write it up to learn how to give clear directions, I, the annoying over-achiever, managed to prepare steak, homemade pasta, and chocolate chip pound cake in comparison to classmates’ PB&J sandwiches…), the wonton wrappers would have to do. As a lazy and hungry foodie, I use wrappers all the time.

Now, Sarah incorporated her spicy harissa into her pasta dough, but I couldn’t since I was using wontons, so I decided to make a spicier filling, pilfered from Ana Sortun’s Oleana restaurant. If you live in Cambridge, Boston, or within a 100 mile radius, a visit to Sortun’s restaurant or cafe is de rigueur — check out what my friend and fellow blogger, Jess wrote about Oleana and Sofra over at Sweet Amandine.

(NOTE: These directions were pretty perfect, so I kept them pretty much as is…)

Boil carrots until very tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and return to pan, tossing over medium heat until dry. Coarsely mash with potato masher or fork.

Stir in remaining ingredients and set aside for 30 minutes to let flavors blend. Season, transfer to bowl, drizzle with more olive oil and serve with crusty bread, if desired. Or, use as tortellini or other pasta filling.

For the tortellini:

Wonton wrappers (the brand I used is Nasoya)
Bowl of water

Once you get the hang of it, making the tortellini by hand is pretty quick and easy.You want to keep the wrappers from drying out so that they won’t crack, so only peel them from the stack one at a time and keep the rest in the packaging or under a barely moist paper towel.

Hold a wrapper in your hand and spoon ~ 1 heaping t of filling into center. Dip your index finger of the other hand into the bowl of water and moisten two edges of the wrapper.

Fold wrapper in half diagonally, sealing the wet edges into a triange…

… and then bring the two long corners together opposite of the other corner, sealing with another dab of water to form a tortellini.

Like this:

Related

11 Responses

what a lovely post, I wanted to comment yesterday but my computer was giving me trouble, barely got a twitter message before my computer crashed. Although I love authentic recipes, I also like playing around with the ingredients for a twist in tradition. We should do a middle eastern cooking challenge, that would be fun, but for now I am packing for 3 weeks in Alaska!

Sarah – You are really amazing at bring authentic Middle Eastern and North African recipes to the blogosphere in a fun and approachable way. I don’t have the resources and people at my fingertips like you do, but love reading about your adventures (as you can clearly tell). I’m just glad that I was able to adapt something of yours in my own little kitchen! When you get back from cool Alaska (and out of sticky hot Israel), we’ll work out some sort of in-person (if I were so lucky) or cyber ME cook-off! For now, enjoy.

These are wonderful and reminiscent of GGM’s Mexican Wontons and Curried Wontons that were part of their Super Bowl Menu.
Check them out on the official Gourmet Girl Magazine site.
Thanks for posting, these look really wonderful and your step by step photographics are nicely done.

This is a absolute wonderful recipe! I’m in love with spicy carrots and your recipe looks fantastic! I really love Mediterranean food and spices and I’m now looking forward to trying it soon. Thanks a lot for sharing!

These look delicious! I’m not much of a pasta maker so I love the modification with the wonton wrappers. Thinking of making for either Shabbat dinner or in advance for lunch. Do you think they stay in the fridge or better to serve immediately?